Over their last 11 games, all of which ended in defeat, preceding Monday night's series opener against the Boston Red Sox, the Tampa Bay Rays had scuffled mightily offensively, scoring just 29 total runs.
The antidote for this horridness at the plate? The Red Sox starting pitching staff.
Eduardo Rodriguez torched in defeat
Eduardo Rodriguez (L, 1-3) continued the recent stretch of harrowing performances for the Boston rotation in his team's 13-7 loss, allowing five runs in the first inning alone en route to a tumultuous 2.2-inning performance in which he yielded nine runs on 11 hits and two walks, striking out two. The outing only furthered the necessity for the Red Sox to bolster their rotation heading into the trade deadline, as Boston starters have now yielded 22 earned runs on 37 hits in just 15 innings of work on the team's first four showings of a six-game road trip.
For the Rays, starter Blake Snell (W, 1-2) earned his first major league victory, working his vicious curveball to the tune of four strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work while relinquishing four essentially meaningless runs on eight hits and four walks.
The Red Sox have now dropped three consecutive games and six of their last eight, falling 4.5 games behind the first place Baltimore Orioles in the AL East for the first time all season.
Rays offense comes alive
What compounded matters for Rodriguez is that the Rays entered the contest starting five batters with averages of .200 or less, an offense struck by futility over the last few weeks. Tampa Bay had clamored for an outburst such as this for weeks, and it finally came against the flummoxed Rodriguez.
The Rays made sure that a Red Sox starter allowed at least five runs for the league-leading 24th occasion on the season, as designated hitter Nick Franklin exploded for a 3-for-5, five-RBI night, second baseman Logan Forsythe went 3-for-5 with three RBI and two runs, and third baseman Evan Longoria fared 3-for-5 with a pair of runs.
Tampa Bay also received a 3-for-4, three-run, two-RBI showing from shortstop Taylor Motter, a 3-for-5, two-run performance by right fielder Oswaldo Arcia, and a 2-for-5, two-RBI, one-run outing by first baseman Logan Morrison.
Tampa Bay explodes with big first inning
The first inning has been an issue for the Red Sox, as they have been outscored by a glaring 29-6 margin in the opening stanza in June, and Monday night's loss only underlined these struggles. Forsythe began Rodriguez's rough night with a single, followed by a one-out base knock by Longoria.
Morrison then gave the Rays a lead they would not relinquish with a two-RBI single. However, after forcing center fielder Desmond Jennings to foul out, Rodriguez had the opportunity to escape from the inning virtually unscathed. Unfortunately for the left-hander, the Rays made sure to inflict some permanent damage.
Arcia proceeded to single to place runners on the corners, followed by an RBI double by Motter. Then, Franklin ripped a two-RBI double to deep right, plating both Arcia and Motter to push the gap to 5-0.
Rodriguez's outing worsened in the bottom of the third, as Jennings led off the stanza by crushing an offering 376 feet to left field for his seventh home run of the season. Then, Arcia sliced a double to deep left, scoring on a one-out RBI base hit by Franklin to increase the Rays lead to 7-0.
Tampa Bay was not through with Rodriguez however, as Forsythe smashed a towering two-out, two-run home run 420 feet over the left field fence to push the 23-year-old's ERA to 8.59 as he sulked on his way to the dugout with his team trailing 9-0.
A two-out, two-RBI double by surging left fielder Bryce Brentz in the following inning decreased the Red Sox deficit to 9-2 while an RBI walk by designated hitter David Ortiz cut the gap to just 9-3 in the fifth inning. However, Snell forced first baseman Hanley Ramirez to strike out with the bases loaded in the ensuing at-bat, concluded a potentially game-altering rally for Boston.
This only led to more offensive production for Tampa Bay. Facing left-hander Tommy Layne, Forsythe continued his dominant night with by crushing an RBI double to deep left with two outs in the bottom half of the stanza, pushing the Rays lead to 10-3.
An RBI infield single by Boston third baseman Marco Hernandez in the top of the sixth inning narrowed the gap slightly, however, Franklin answered with a two-run shot to right field off of Red Sox reliever Koji Uehara in the bottom of the seventh inning to increase the Rays advantage to 12-4.
Boston catcher Sandy Leon, owner of an astounding .724 slugging percentage, proceeded to chop the lead in half with a two-run home run of his own in the eighth inning, however, an RBI infield single by Motter off of Red Sox closer Craig Kimbrel added insult to injury in the bottom half of the stanza.
The Red Sox responded by manufacturing a run in the final inning, as shortstop Xander Bogaerts singled, hustled from first to third on a base hit by catcher Christian Vazquez, and scored on a sacrifice fly by first baseman Travis Shaw. However, the run was of no avail to the struggling Red Sox, whose night concluded fittingly on a swinging strikeout by center fielder Jackie Bradley Jr.